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Mothers are not fathers: differences between parents in the reduction of stress levels after a parental intervention in a NICU
Author(s) -
Matricardi S,
Agostino R,
Fedeli C,
Montirosso R
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.12058
Subject(s) - medicine , intervention (counseling) , massage , psychological intervention , gestational age , pediatrics , obstetrics , pregnancy , psychiatry , alternative medicine , pathology , biology , genetics
Aims The study examined the effects of a parental intervention to reduce parents’ stress levels during the hospitalization of their very preterm infants in a NICU , taking into account possible differences between mothers and fathers. Methods Parents of infants born ≤32 weeks gestational age ( GA ) were randomly assigned to a standard support group (N = 21) or intervention group (N = 21). The intervention was based both on a joint observation method and infant massage provided by both parents. Parents’ stress was assessed by the P arental S tressor S cale: Neonatal I ntensive C are U nit, after the first week of admission and at the infant's discharge. Results At discharge, intervention group parents showed significantly lower levels of stress related to infants’ appearance/behaviour and to parental role alteration ( PRA ) than those of the standard support group (p = 0.000). Overall, mothers reported more stress compared with fathers (p ≤ 0.05). The intervention was effective in reducing the stress‐role alteration in mothers (p < 0.05), but not in fathers. Conclusions Mothers reported more stress compared with fathers, above all for PRA . A parental intervention was effective in reducing stress‐role alteration in mothers, but not fathers. Parental interventions should take into account that help for fathers could be different from help for mothers.